Authorities seize 250 smuggled goats at Oman border

Security officials at Hatta port crossing found the goats in a truck meant for transporting fish

Hatta: UAE authorities on Saturday seized 250 goats that smugglers had tried to transport over the Hatta-Oman border.

The goats were seized after security officials at the border port crossing inspected a truck meant for carrying fish, the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment said.

Inspectors found that the goats inside the truck were in poor health due to conditions that did not match minimum standards set by the federal ministry.

The ministry’s regulations protect animals from “malpractices which include smuggling”, said ministry spokesman Saif Mohammad Al Shar’a.

Flouting the rules could lead to the spread of “infectious diseases between animals and humans which have a negative effect on public health”, he added.

Details on the smugglers were not announced by the ministry.

According to officials, the only legal way to import livestock into the country is through the ministry, and by following the laws that regulate the importing of animals.

Live animals can only be imported into the UAE through the ministry’s 18 official quarantine centres.

These centres aim to ensure that live animals that enter the UAE are free of infectious diseases and have the official permits and certificates from their country of origin.